JMM MLAs to meet Governor today to withdraw support from Munda Govt

The legislators of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha will meet Jharkhand Governor Syed Ahmad on Tuesday to formally withdraw support to the BJP-led government in the state. Shibu Soren''s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) withdrew support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Arjun Munda Government on Monday evening, reducing it to minority after talks between two the sides fail to reach an agreement. The decision to pull out was taken after a meeting of JMM leaders at Ranchi even though Munda met JMM chief Shibu Soren and his son Hemant at their residence. The latest development came after the BJP refused to bow down to the JMM''s demands. The JMM supremo who wanted the BJP to hand over the power to his political outfit, has called for an immediate change in the leadership. Soren had earlier threatened the BJP that his political outfit would walk out of the alliance if the chief minister''s post is not handed over to the JMM as a part of the deal under which the two parties had agreed to share it for 28 months each. The BJP had, however, downplayed Soren’s threat to withdraw support to the Arjun Munda-led coalition government in Jharkhand on Monday, saying it is the democratic process that matters and no compromise will be made with principles and promises. "The government (in Jharkhand) is not a major subject. The Bharatiya Janata Party had taken the responsibility to ensure that there is a democratic process in Jharkhand along with the JMM and the AJSU . There was a common minimum programme, and the Chief Minister Arjun Munda has just clarified it in his letter two days before," BJP General Secretary Dharmendra Pradhan told the media in New Delhi. "It is the democratic process not the government, which matters for the BJP, and we will not compromise with our principals and promises," he added. Pradhan, who was assigned additional responsibility to look after the party activities in Jharkhand in August 2011, further said Arjun Munda has clarified everything, and added that it is not a matter of being right or wrong. "We still hope that every issue can be solved in the coordination committee meeting headed by Shibu Soren. The BJP is doing everything to maintain a democratic process in Jharkhand, will continue to do whatever is possible in its limitations," said Pradhan. "It was not a pre-poll arrangement. We all have our own politics and ideology. We have come together to provide a stable government in the state under a common minimum programme, and whatever is going to be in future, will be done according to that promises only," he added. Both the JMM and the BJP have 18 MLAs each in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly. If the JMM withdraws its support than the Munda government will fall. Munda, whose 28-month tenure ends on January 10, had last week said he had in writing rejected the JMM''s claim that there was a power sharing deal between the two parties and that the latter has to take a decision keeping the stability of the government in mind. (ANI)